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After a very busy few weeks at school, I am struck once again by the fact that teaching and everything to do with education comes down to individual people. It is the little and big people that fill our classrooms; it is their parents with their needs and goals for their children. It is our colleagues, who they are in school and all that they bring from their home lives and their background. It is our administrators and what they seek to achieve. And it is ourselves, with all of our strengths and challenges.

We never work in isolation or in a vacuum. We may plan alone and grade alone, but we always take whatever happens in that quiet space into the crowd of our schools. It is there, in the midst of other’s strengths and needs, that we practice our craft. Sometimes we understand what is influencing those around us, but most times, we do not. We especially have to try to bring out the best in students whose full experience of life is a mystery to us.

Teachers take that on every day. We walk into school, prepared to have to adapt to whatever presents itself. It is the joy and the struggle of being a good teacher. Lesson plans can only go so far. We are constantly inventing the best lessons that we can for our students and then are willing to immediately tinker with the design if it just isn’t working. We have to let the students be part of the equation as they bring all of themselves into the classroom. A lesson may fly with all the kids involved, taking on a life of its own as they engage in the work. Or it may crash to the ground, sometimes for no identifiable reason. We can present an task for the class  and within minutes, it can become clear that they are not engaged. They are bored or distracted. What looked good on paper is simply not working, because the real people, who are our students, are not connecting to the challenge before them.

Teachers have a choice in those moments. They can decide that they know what is best and ignore the signs from their students. They can power on through the lesson and refuse to notice the minds that have shifted away from the learning and onto thoughts of what they are going to have for lunch or their best friend’s new shoes . The other choice is to be readily accept failure and let go of what is precious to you, the lesson that you planned, and focus on what is most important, which is the learning of the students.  If we can model a willingness to accept failure and a commitment to learning, then we can give our students a tremendous gift.

Our plans can never be more important than the students in front of us. We are trying to lead them into a place where they love to learn. If what is happening in the classroom is training them to hate learning or to think that learning is boring, then it is time to adapt. Get out of that lesson, quickly, and dream up something new. Put out a game to practice a skill. Take a walk with them, and ask about what was going wrong and how it could be better. Anything that accepts that they are real people, who want to learn and be smart but who may have struggles with the lesson, with the day, with themselves. Teachers have to be therapists, magicians, active learners. We have to pay attention to the children who are before us and adapt to meet their needs so that they can have success. We need to show them that hard work, like we put into planning a class,  doesn’t always lead to success and that sometimes hard work leads to more work, and that that is okay!

I did a lesson with my 7th grade today that I built around the revolutions and unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. The goal was to engage their curiosity and then, through collaborative effort, investigate what is happening. I started the lesson putting my Tweetdeck on the SmartBoard. I had added three columns to it: #Egypt, #Libya, #revolution. I explained to them how I use Twitter to connect with other educators and learn with them, but that it can also be used to learn about events happening around the world. They were really interested. Most of them had heard of Twitter but had never seen it used as a learning tool.

They watched the Twitter stream and started trying to read the posts, but we quickly realized that it was simply going by too quickly. So many people were posting so many ideas and events that there was no way to read it quickly enough. I could have gone to Twitter, but in truth, I didn’t think of it at the moment. Instead we had a conversation about what this amazing stream showed about what was happening. Even without fully reading the tweets, it was apparent to them how important what was happening was to the people connected to it. It peaked their curiosity – mission accomplished.

It was time to build in some background for their investigations. While they had all heard something about things happening in the Middle East, no one really knew what was going on. One girl said, “I asked my parents, but they just said it was really complicated.” I had them go to our class Edmodo account to introduce them to some of the resources available for them in their inquiry. I had posted links to the home pages of the BBC, of CNN and of the English version of Al Jazeera. We talked about the need to multiple sources for news and how that would enhance their understanding of what was happening. Having studied Islam this year, they recognized how important it is to have a source that speaks from a Muslim perspective. We watched a BBC video, “Eighteen Days that Shook the World,” and looked at an interactive map of the Middle East and north Africa that highlights unrest in each country, also by the BBC.

Their task, for the rest of the hour long class and for the coming week, was to learn. I told them that they were going to be evaluating themselves at the end of the process. The task was to investigate and dig deeply into areas that interested them. I told them that I wanted them to ask questions and search for answers. another part of their job is to post to Edmodo, so that they can learn from each other’s work. When they find an interesting article or important facts, they are to post it. They created streams for each country, so that all of the facts about Egypt will end up in one place.

Then they set to work. I never cease to be amazed at what students can and eagerly will do when they are interested and engaged. The minutes flew by, as they shared sometimes aloud and sometimes simply on Edmodo. The interactive map had the poverty level for each country. Immediately two students were researching the US poverty level. “I just want to be able to compare them,” she said. Her search had nothing to do with completing an assignment; it had to do with her own learning and desire for understanding. It wasn’t about “school;” it was about her.

At the end of class, I brought them back together and asked them about the process. What had this work been like? Across the board, they said that they had learned “SO” much. They loved reading each other’s posts, learning from each other. They felt smarter than they had at the beginning of class and couldn’t wait to tell their parents what they now knew. The topic was no longer too complicated for them, because they felt like they knew how to find answers, and they wanted to keep searching and learning.

Truly, I hadn’t known if it would work this way. I had hoped it would, but I really wasn’t sure, so at the end of the class, I was ecstatic. Sometimes a plan just works!

This morning, I stopped the art teacher to ask if there were some crayons I could borrow. My 7th grade class is working on a project based on the Black Death. They started it by reading the textbook to get an overview of the time period as well as the causes and effects of the Plague. Then they did extensive primary source work, reading accounts from the time and looking at woodblock carvings by Holbein and Durer. Once they had finished that work, which had been done in a combination of independent and small group work, they began two responses. The first is a piece of historical fiction that communicates the changes that the Black Death brought to a person living in Europe. The second was to create a drawing of a woodblock, similar to the ones that they had seen.

In the faculty room this morning, I saw Judy, the art teacher, and asked her if she had any crayons that I could borrow for my 1st period class. They seemed like they might be a good tool to use for the final drawing, rather than the colored pencils and markers that I have in my room. With a smile, she said that she did, and then she asked what the project was about. It immediately became clear why I need to ask these sorts of questions. I am not an artist. I love art, but I do not think like an artist.  As Judy started asking me questions, I realized that while I value art and give my students lots of opportunities to demonstrate what they know using drawing and illustrations, I need such help in how to think about it.

Part of what I realized is how much Judy valued the work of creating the art, not for the end product alone, but for the work itself. It is important that the students see examples and use the right materials. The process of thinking about the work and then creating it had value, not simply as a means to show something else, but for itself. She wanted to students to approach their art work with the same dedication that I have them approach their reading and writing. Judy pulled out illustrations of woodblocks as well as one that she had created herself.

“See how important the grain of the wood is? You always want to carve with the wood.” Who knew? And until then, in truth, I hadn’t even thought about it or why it even mattered. Seeing an actual woodblock and recognizing how difficult it would be to create made such a difference. I know that I have students who care tremendously about details, and they were fascinated when I discussed them later in class.

Then Judy pointed out that woodblocks are starkly black and white, so that the crayons that I thought I wanted probably would not be the best tool to use. She experimented with different markers and paper until she decided which ones she liked the best. Then she found a piece of wood and began to sketch on it. The medium had a value that I had failed to give it, basically because I didn’t even think about it. By not recognizing the value of the process, I diminished my students’ understanding and effort as well as the art itself. As Judy talked through her thinking process and came to decisions about what would work the best, I became so grateful that I did not have to do that work by myself, because truly, I don’t even know the questions to ask.

When teachers work together, we can build on each other’s strengths. We don’t have to do it all or know it all. I can’t begin to think like an artist, but as I ask questions, I can learn and begin to appreciate more of what happens in other disciplines. I think that I need to observe more classes – math, science, art and music. Classes where I really only know how I was taught and not how students are learning today. I need to understand that more, and I need to ask for help more often!

The first session that I went to last weekend at Educon was run by a colleague of mine, Betty Ann Fish, @bafish10. She is the head of Physical Education at my school and is deeply committed to including PE in our thinking about 21st century learning. She works mainly with elementary students but has lots of ideas for how movement and activity can enhance curriculum. I got so excited as I listened to her. While I have already been using movement, having my students take short, brisk walks, to get the blood circulating and revive their energy, I had not made the connection to how activities like relay races and scavenger hunts could support the learning goals in my class.

One activity that Betty Ann talked about was a relay race where the students ran down and turned over one of 8 cards. The cards each had one of the stages of butterfly development, which was the topic their class had been studying in homeroom. If the card that they chose was the next one in order, the student got to bring the card with her as she ran back. If it was not the right one, the card was left. The movement and the learning were combined. What struck me, especially for a middle school classroom, is that this sort of task would support one of my primary goals which is to teach collaboration. The entire team is working together to remember the sequence of events as well as the placement of the cards. As they run back and forth, shouting encouragement and advice, they have to work together to reach their goal.

Another activity that Betty Ann discussed was for learning US state names and locations. The first step was to place cards with the states all over a playing field. The students have to run around and pick up  a card. They then need to find the people who have cards with states that adjoin their state. There are all sorts of ways that this could be adapted. All of the states along the Mississippi need to run and touch the goal post. The Thirteen Colonies need to stand together. The list is almost endless, but with each activity, the students are interacting with the curriculum while also running and sharing together. Again, full of collaboration and while reinforcing the learning.

These kinds of activities also support a variety of learners. We all know that most of us are kinesthetic learners to one degree or another. We learn well while using our bodies as we do it. It is not just the “smart” ones who can help their partners. It is the fast ones; it is the ones who have good visual memory; it is the ones who already learned the sequence of events; it is the ones who encourage their classmates. Together they all master the challenge, review the material and learn the curriculum, and most importantly have a sense of achievement. .

One aspect of this that stuck me is that it calls for careful preparation. This is not, like most effective teaching, simply grabbing last year’s worksheet off the shelf. It needs thoughtful consideration about what you want them to learn. This sort of work for the students is going to make an impression; they are going to remember what they learned while running around. It will take time to organize and build it successfully,  making cards or setting up scavenger hunts that don’t disturb the rest of the school, but it so clearly can and should be done. The students will love it, for the exercise and the total shift from what they expect to happen in “class.”

So I am off to do some dreaming! It will be interesting to see where these ideas take me!

Thank you to Educon and to Betty Ann!

Educon is an amazing conference that brings together educators from around the world to discuss teaching and learning in the 21st century. Last year was my first year attending, and it was when I began to meet the people in my PLN face-to-face. It was a remarkable experience to be together with people that I had met on Twitter and shared so much with, but had never shaken their hand or heard their voices. I spent the whole weekend in awe, as I tried to match real people with Twitter photos.

This year will be different in so many ways. The relationships that I started last year have become full friendships. These are people that I know and have worked  with all year. The friendships I have made are anchors in a world that is constantly changing. They encourage me to move beyond where I am comfortable and push myself to learn and connect more. They truly drive me out into the digital world. The beauty of it is that the people who I am connecting with are some of the most generous and thoughtful people that I have ever met. The educators who take the time to connect on Twitter have made a commitment to a level of excellence and of community that is inspiring. I am grateful for each and every one with whom I have shared there.

As someone tweeted out this morning, there weren’t even iPads at the last Educon, and how many will be there this weekend? This is the world that we live in now, and if we do not cement ourselves to each other, we will be lost in a tornado of Change. We will lose our way alone. It is only through these kinds of friendships that we can maintain ourselves and our energy. Together, we can master the new ideas and new tools, because when we work together, no one has to do it all. Collectively, we can master them, sharing what we learn with each other. As we answer questions and respond to tweets, we build a community that can weather all that swirls around us. Together, we learn and serve our students in the best ways possible. As we take the time to talk and challenge each other, as we spend time learning about the strengths and needs that we all bring to this, we can build a community that can weather the storm of Constant Change without being lost in them.

So I am off to Educon to talk and listen to the people who have shared and supported me throughout this year, in tweets and comments on my blog, at conferences and skype calls. What a wonderful time to be an educator!

Noise is one of the hardest parts of Project-Based learning for me. I love creating the projects; I love introducing them and watching the students eagerly take on the task. The conversation that starts, “Look what I found,” just makes me smile, as they engage with the information, beginning to collaborate with each other. It is the chatter that then so often starts that is always a challenge for me – chatter that is off-topic and seemingly distracting that always is a challenge for me. While my head knows that middle school students are social creatures and the breaks that they take can support their learning, often helping them to reconnect and remember more, because of the chance to be social. I know they need those breaks to make them feel happy and secure. But the “Old School Marm” in me always wants to clamp down, exert my authority and seemingly regain control over my students. So I am working on a balance.

This week, I introduced a research project on the role of the Executive Branch of government and had the students investigate the life and powers of the President and his cabinet, using www.whitehouse.gov. There is an amazing amount of information there, and I wanted them to follow their interests and instincts while still aiming for a general goal.  They eagerly set to work, silently at first, making their way to the website and beginning to investigate. After 3-5 minutes the conversation began, in whispers at first and then with increasing volume. Much of it was directly connected to their research, as they excitedly shared a new fact, pointed out a picture, discovered a tour of the White House. They were genuinely interested in what they were finding and in sharing it with their peers. Those are the times that make me glow! I love creating an experience that makes those kinds of interactions happen.

But then, within a few more moments, there were snatches of, “I wish it had been a snow day,” and “What are you up to this weekend?” My impulse is always to immediately intervene and call them back to the work before them. I so want to clamp down, forcing obedience to some ancient standard of what an engaged and focused student looks like. Intellectually, I know that desks in rows and silent, rote learning are not tools I want to use, but there are times when I find myself turning towards them, rather than away.

I struggle to accept, when it is happening right in front of me, that those times of reconnecting with friends, are important for the energy and learning of my students. They are not direct affronts to my authority, but instead are simply signs of middle school students being who they are. It really has nothing to do with me or the lesson, and it has everything to do with their social needs. Having listened to a presentation last week about the importance of accepting middle school students as social beings, this time, I took a deep breathe and just waited to speak. I wandered around the room, making my presence felt, but not taking control. Often the simply aspect of the teacher moving closer caused them to refocus, but not all of the time. I simply passed on, even if they were talking about unrelated topics.

I let this go on for about 5 minutes, as the volume slowly rose to one that felt too loud for work to happen. At that point, I told them that they needed to be silent for 4 minutes. I decided that rather than setting a long period of silence, I would set one that was achievable for them. They each know that they can stay quiet for 4 minutes, maybe not much more than that, but they can do 4. They immediately fell silent with absolutely no whispering or conversation of any kind. They took on the task of focusing for a set period of time and went to it. The part that caught me off guard was that they stuck to it, long after the 4 minutes was up. they read and recorded, not looking at the clock or squirming in their seats. They tackled their research without even a question. I simply stood there, shaking my head. They never cease to teach me something new, if I will only listen and observe. While the Chatter Time is often like “fingernails on chalkboard”, I may well have to learn to let it be an accepted part of my classroom.

I have gotten into many conversations about whether or not students should be doing any memorization work at all when they have access to all of the information they could ever need right in their phones. In a day and age of Google and all of the other sources on information – YouTube, Wikipedia, Flickr – why should any student be required to memorize facts. It is clearly not a higher level thinking skill to commit information by rote to memory. So why should we ask it of our students?

I would argue that there is one primary reason, which is that the process of figuring out how to effectively memorize teaches a student about how his or her brain works. If we teach students multiple ways to commit a series of facts to memory, they can experiment and learn which one works for them. Is it easier for them to learn by reading the information over and over again? Is it easier if they read it aloud rather than silently? Are they more effective when they draw charts of the information on large sheets of paper? Does hanging those sheets up in their bedroom help them learn it? Do they need to take a walk and teach the lesson to their dog, speaking it aloud.

We need to teach each of these strategies in the classroom. We need to model how each is done and then have them practice that strategy at home that night with a lesson. The next day should be a time of reflection on the process. Take a quick quiz, not for a grade but to evaluate retention of the material. Then have a class discussion about whether it was an effective strategy. Find out about when and where they used it and how it might be adapted to be more effective. It is empowering for the student to go through the process of using different strategies. They begin to understand how they learn while doing a relatively simple task of memorizing a set of facts. Each student begins to develop his or her own personal strategy for tackling their next learning challenge. There is a direct sense of personal power in this understanding of how you learn the most effectively that can be translated into more complicated tasks. Because our brains change and grow, this is an important task for most years of school.

I have no desire to return to a rote-learning classroom, where there is no investigation and student-driven work. On the other hand, I want to avoid throwing this particular baby being thrown out with the bath water. Access to information is not the same as knowing how to gain control over it and work with it. We need to teach our students every possible skill that will allow them to do that, and memorization is simply one that should not be forgotten.

My goal for this coming year is to foster curiosity in my students. I want to create an environment where it is safe to ask questions and to wonder. It needs to be a place where the goal is not Right Answers. Two experiences this Fall deeply influenced my thinking about what I want to create  in the coming months. The first was during a research project. The students chose topics that were of interest to them in American history – food, clothing, architecture, etc. The goal was for them to learn about their topic during each of the different time periods that we were covering in class. They would become the experts on housing or commerce or whatever their topic was.

One of the first steps was for them to generate a list of questions that they wanted to investigate. What did they want to know about their topic? The startling effect of posing this task for them was how unable they were to figure out what they wanted to know. They wanted to know what was the right aspect to be researching, what were the right questions to be asking.  They were clearly insecure about articulating what was interesting to them. “What should I want to find out about?” was the primary question. They wanted me to tell them what they should want to learn about. They are products of our system, one where it is often about a correct set of facts and not about the learning journey. They are most secure, being the necessary information to memorize and simply being asked to respond with those facts.

We, as educators, can’t allow them to stay in that place. There is so little need to simply learn a set of Right Facts in today’s world. Their phones hold all of that information and more. They need to learn to ask questions and to manipulate the data to build new understandings and then to be able to present their thinking in original and informative ways. We have to unleash our students from the dictatorship of single, right way to learn and show what they know.

This is scary for us as teachers. It takes us out of our own comfort zones. It is much easier to grade a multiple choice quiz than a variety of dioramas, PowerPoints, videos and essays. But when we pull back from what we imagine as the Right Way, we open the doors to their curiosity and investigation. We have to teach them to wonder and to explore without the constant worry of a bad grade or of rejection of their thinking and process. I need to keep this as a mantra for this year.

My second experience came during a simulation based around the Indian Ocean trade networks. It was built on one that I have used before from Berkeley. It started with an investigation of some “artifacts.” In a plastic ziplock bag, I had put items that had been traded around the Indian Ocean – pepper corns, coriander, cardamom and a cinnamon stick. To those I added some laminated images: Chinese porcelain plate, a piece of papyrus, a brass jug and some glass beads. I gave groups of 3-4 students a bag to explore. They had a great time, asking questions and wondering about the origins and uses of the different spices.

After about 15 minutes, on one of my wanderings, I realized that many of the students had not only been smelling the different spices, but they had broken them up and eaten them. After an initial moment of horror that there might be food allergies to contend with, I marveled at what happens when students are deeply involved in an investigation. They immediately moved out of a standard, school, fill-in-the-blanks kind of response and went surging forward, using every tool that they could think of, which included eating them.

So my goal for the year is to remove the barriers that hold back those kinds of investigations and to create activities that encourage exploration. Some of those will be with digital tools, but the goal is not to use more technology. The goal is to facilitate a new depth of learning in each of my students.

What an amazing decade it has been! It is with a fair amount of amazement that I look back on the classroom of 2000 and compare it with the work that I do now. Ten years ago, it was not only the tools that were different; it was the way I thought about my job as a teacher. I had been teaching for years, in the classroom and homeschooling. I felt comfortable and competent in my career. I understood kids and the skills and information that they were supposed to learn in my classroom. It was a time when I knew what I needed to accomplish my job, and I felt secure in being able to help the students in my class.

It was a paper and pencil, chalkboard world. I had a desktop computer, that I used strictly for word processing, mostly creating worksheets. The students had no access to computers in school. In truth, I wouldn’t have known what to have them do on computers, even if they had had them. The world of digital tools was still completely foreign to me and to most educators. Most of the tools that I use today simply didn’t exist then. If the students had had computers, they would simply have been for word processing, because that was all that I knew to do with them.

Over the course of the decade, I was given new tools, tools that challenged me to figure them out and then figure out what use they could be to my students. From desktop computers to SmartBoards to laptop carts to 1:1 programs, each step has provided me and other teachers with an opportunity to grow and learn. That is the awesome choice that has confronted educators this decade. With each new tool and each new way of learning, we have had to leave our former security and venture into the unknown. For me, the lesson of the first decade of the 21st century is that change is now a part of life. If I want to provide the best education for my students, who live in a digital world, I must make an ongoing commitment to grow. New learning has become a perpetual requirement for good teachers. We simply can not expect that what we did before is all that our students will need.

While they still need much of what we taught before: study skills, control over information, self-expression, effective reading, there is now more. It is our job to teach them these while also making sure they learn how to be effective and ongoing learners, ones who are not going to stop growing with a good grade or degree, but ones who will move into the future with the skills needed to adapt and grow, to create and build in the world. Educators need to make it our goal for the next decade to model how to be that kind of learner, demonstrating a love of our subjects and a love of learning that will be hopefully be contagious.

Happy New Year!

I have two reactions to the fact that this week is the 1st anniversary of Middle School Matrix. The first is amazement that it has only been a year. In many ways, it feels like writing for this blog is something that I have been doing for a much longer time. It is quietly always in the back of my mind. “Is this worth writing about? How would I discuss that?” Having a blog has made me more consciously reflective. I think about my practice more deeply than I did before, partly because there are people who are taking the time to read about what I do in my classroom and why I do it. The students from Dr. Strange’s class at the University of South Alabama have added a wonderful new perspective. It is great to know that students studying education are reading this blog and others. At edcampnyc two weeks ago, I had a conversation with Tom Whitby  writing blogs. He started his just about a year ago as well, and we were commenting on how amazing it is to have our thoughts saved in our blog, that we have created more than we thought we were going to when it began. (For more on my thoughts about edcampnyc, the last post is about it.)

My second reaction is “Where did the year go?” In many ways it flew by, in a blur of growth and learning. There was never a moment of “sitting still.” Every time I checked on Twitter, there was a new idea or great website to visit. In many ways, being a teacher shifted dramatically for me from being in control of the pedagogy and content to being a  constant student, learning new ways of thinking about the work that happens in my classroom as well as new challenges for me personally to grow and understand. It has been wonderfully stimulating and enlightening.

One of the primary reasons that I started this blog was to deepen my relationships with the members of my PLN – which for me stands for Passionate Learning Network, an adaptation that I got from Shelly Terrell. After months on Twitter, sharing resources, asking questions and reading other people’s blogs, I felt that I needed to share my thinking and practice. I have been a teacher, in one form or another, for over 30 years, and I have ideas as well as questions about how we should best teach in the 21st century. This blog gave me a place to talk about those and to hear back from others who are equally passionate about making education the very best that it can be.

The people in my PLN have changed my life. Each one of you has contributed to the ongoing conversation, adding new ideas that spark my curiosity and imagination in rich and wonderful ways. I have spent more time than I ever imagined I would becoming friends with people around the world. I have made connections that sustain me when I am confused and support me when I experiment.

As always, at the heart of it, has been time, time to reflect, to write, to follow the stream on Twitter, to comment on other people’s blogs. That was the commitment that starting this blog solidified, and that is the one that I am remaking as I move into Year Two. I will take the time to learn and share, online and hopefully in person, with educators who want to make each day a day of joyful learning and growth for every student. Thank you for sharing in the journey with me!